Teuta

Teuta (died 227 BC) was Queen of the Ardiaei from 231 to 227 BC, succeeding Agron and preceding Gentius. Her support for Mediterranean piracy led to the Roman Republic launching its first cross-Adriatic intervention in 229 BC and conquering Illyria two years later.

Biography
Teuta inherited the Ardiaei kingdom from her husband Agron following his death in 231 BC, ruling over much of Illyria proper. She addressed the neighboring states malevolently, supporting the piratical raids of her subjects. Teuta also gave the Roman Republic its first pretext to invade across the Adriatic Sea during the start of their expansion into the eastern Mediterranean, The Illyrians captured Dyrrachium and Phoenice, and she also plundered Roman merchant vessels of Onchesmos. Her forces later moved southward into the Ionian Sea, defeating the Achaean and Aetolian fleet at Paxos and capturing Corcyra. The Roman Senate eventually sent two ambassadors to Teuta demanding a reparations and an end to all pirating expeditions, but she said that piracy was a lawful trade for the Illyrians, and that her government had no right to interfere with a private enterprise. One of the ambassadors was so disrespectful that she had the departing ambassadors' ship seized, and she then killed the disrespectful ambassador and imprisoned the other. In 229 BC, Rome declared war on the Ardiaei, sending 20,000 troops, 200 cavalry, and 200 ships to conquer Illyria. Teuta fled to her fleet's base at Rhizon as the Romans besieged her capital of Scodra, and she was forced to surrender in 227 BC. Lucius Postumius Albinus ended her reign after she opted against Roman suppression, and she threw herself from Orjen Peak in her grief.